Comparison of seropositivity of human T lymphotropic virus type 1 in mycosis fungoides patients and normal volunteers: A case-control study and review of literature

Background: There have been controversial reports about the possible association between mycosis fungoides (MF), its leukemic variant Sιzary syndrome (SS) and human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) in different geographical regions.
Aims: The purpose of this study was to explore any association between MF and presence of HTLV-1 infection in Iran.
Methods: In a case-control setting, 150 clinically and histopathologically proven MF patients had been admitted to the tertiary referral skin center during a 10-year period and another 150 normal volunteers had been compared with each other for the presence of HTLV-1 infection. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect antibodies against HTLV-1, and positive results were confirmed with western blotting.
Results: Only three MF patients had HTLV-1 infection, whereas two cases of normal subjects had the infection ( P > 0.05). The only three seropositive MF patients were male and from North-Eastern Iran .
Conclusion: This study showed that MF does not correlate with HTLV-1 infection in Iran.

Keywords
Mycosis fungoides, Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1, Western blot